entrepreneurship research Centre for Ethics

Research integrity projects

Funding programme: Horizon Europe Programme (WIDERA ERA)

Project duration: January 2027 – December 2029

Project budget at the University of Tartu: EUR 194,175

The importance of research is widely recognised. As highlighted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the World Economic Forum, research can help build a better future. Yet, inequitable research is more likely to build barriers and create distrust than shape a better world. TRUST-ERA seeks to address this concern, enabling a flourishing research ethics and integrity ecosystem that supports fair benefit sharing and helps to prevent ethics dumping.

This will be achieved by a consortium with senior representation from four continents; a majority of women team leaders; a significant proportion of partners from lower income countries, including those who represent vulnerable populations; and a commitment to a values-based research culture.

The project will identify and analyse barriers to effective benefit sharing and the reliable prevention of ethics dumping, while proposing practical solutions to address these challenges. Quality-assured toolkits will be developed that are grounded in rigorous methodologies and evidence-informed knowledge to facilitate equitable partnerships and prevent harm in the research ethics and integrity ecosystem. Research ethics and integrity training and curricula for researchers will draw upon the most effective practices of the past 10 years to promote equitable research and robust ethics review processes. Broad uptake of the project’s outputs will be fostered through impactful dissemination and effective advocacy for responsible research and innovation built on the TRUST values of fairness, respect, care, and honesty.

Immersive Journeys into European Citizenship (EU-360)

Funding programme: Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships in Youth (KA220-YOU)

Duration: December 2026 – May 2029

Total project budget: EUR 400,000

The A4L_BRIDGE project aims to strengthen research and innovation (R&I) performance across the EU by advancing higher education in the R&I dimension at health research-performing institutions. Building on the strategic partnership established by the Alliance for Life Sciences (Alliance4Life), the project is dedicated to reducing disparities in research and innovation excellence within Europe.

Project number: 101094714

Duration: 01.01.2023–31.12.2025

Funding: EUR 311,163

Lead partner: University of Oslo

Principal investigator: Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy Kadri Simm; included from the Centre for Ethics Methodologist-Trainer of Research Ethics Anu Tammeleht

Ethics and integrity are key dimensions of excellence in research and crucial for public trust in science. BEYOND will reinforce efforts to promote adherence to the highest standards of research ethics and integrity (RE/RI) and prevent research misconduct (RM) by developing and disseminating regulatory and educational interventions that elucidate institutional and individual responsibilities for ensuring and fostering research environments conducive to ethical research. To that end, BEYOND will adopt a complex ecosystemic perspective on research ethics and integrity that recognizes the multiple responsibilities of researchers and other stakeholders to enrich the overly simplistic Bad Apples approach that underpins most existing measures to prevent research misconduct.

BEYOND will EXPLORE the existing literature on behavioural ethics and moral psychology as well as the socio-economic consequences of research misconduct and ENGAGE all involved stakeholders in a public consultation. To GUIDE and EQUIP all stakeholders in the research ecosystem, BEYOND will utilize this knowledge to develop

  1. psychologically informed contextual interventions to promote RE/RI and prevent RM from the perspective of individual and institutional responsibilities;
  2. methodologies to measure the short-, medium- and long-term impact of RE/RI trainings on attitudes and behaviours of students and researchers;
  3. a best practice manual and guidelines to supplement standard operating procedures from a complex research ecosystemic perspective as well as a 2030 roadmap towards improving the RE/RI culture and
  4. new training materials and tools to supplement existing educational efforts.

BEYOND will mobilize all stakeholders via the three thematic networks involved in the consortium (ENRIO, EUREC, The Guild) and the stakeholder advisory board to ensure widespread dissemination of results and facilitate their institutional uptake and embedding.

Simm, K., Parder, M.-L., Lang, H. M., Kaaya, E., & Rajando, K. (2024, December 19). BEYOND research ethics and integrity training materials for young and/or early career researchers (piloting phase). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14524335

Proposal number: 101058158

Project duration: 01.06.2022–31.05.2025

Financing: EUR 129,800

Leading partner: Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

Responsible person: prof Margit Sutrop, professor of practical philosophy at the University of Tartu

Project description

The IANUS project strengthens warranted trust in science by fostering participation in research as a co-creative and inclusive process, sensitive to societal values, concerns and needs. Trust must be inspired by transparency and trustworthiness of knowledge production, and anchored by actively involving and serving society, as part of the modus operandi of science.

Our core objectives:

  • Enable citizens and stakeholders to distinguish valid from unfounded trust;
  • Enable them to deal with the uncertainties and epistemic pluralism inherent in scientific knowledge;
  • Enable researchers to foster trust through radical methodological change, making research inclusive, transparent and responsive to societal needs and concerns, lowering barriers between research and society;
  • Enable researchers to conduct relevant, engaged and value-driven research while foregoing partiality, ideological biases and conflicts of interests.

The acronym IANUS refers to the deity Janus of gateways (ianus in Latin), looking both at the inside and at the outside of the knowledge production process. Trust in science is never a given. Robust trust is well-placed, reciprocal and informed.

Building on insights and results from other projects funded under Framework Programmes, IANUS will

  • map the landscape of projects and discourses relevant for trust in science;
  • develop its conceptual framework;
  • conduct participatory research into conditions of trust in science;
  • initiate concrete actions for strengthening trust through co-creation and engagement;
  • provide policy recommendation to key stakeholders in science and society (e.g. funding bodies, universities, research teams, educators, media);
  • create platforms for interaction and engagement between scientists and societal stakeholders to foster trust.

The complexity and urgency of societal challenges has rapidly intensified, and trust in science determines our ability to address these challenges effectively.

Project partners from Centre for Ethics, University of Tartu: Mari-Liisa Parder (Research Fellow in Ethics), Anu Tammeleht (Methodologist-Trainer of Research Ethics). Principal investigator Kadri Simm (Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy), research staff from the Centre for Applied Social Sciences are Marvi Remmik, Siim Espenberg, Kadri Lees, Helen Urmann.

Duration: 17.01.2023−30.06.2023

Funding: Estonian Research Council, EUR 28,000

The main purpose of the study is to develop a methodology for mapping the research integrity (RI) and research ethics (RE) experience and practices of the Estonian research community, to test this methodology with a pilot study, and to present an analysis of the results of the study on the problems identified and their possible solutions both at the level of research organisations and systematically. The results of the study are important for further development of the field of RI & RE, for mapping needs and for planning trainings, monitoring and planning measures to improve organisational culture.

Compliance with the standards of RI & RE is a prerequisite for good science. Values such as honesty and transparency support common social norms, but RI & RE are also central to ensuring mutual trust between society and the research community. Ethical science supports the epistemical aims of science and shared norms are a prerequisite for successful scientific careers both in Estonia and internationally.

Proposal number: 101006430

Project duration: 01.03.2021–29.02.2024

Leading partner: Oslo Ülikool

Responsible person: Kadri Simm, Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Tartu

Open science (OS) where research planning, processes, data and results are freely available to all stakeholders is the future of science. OS will make science more effective and more responsive to societal needs, and it will enable citizens to participate actively in all aspects of science as citizen scientists. OS does, however also raise new questions about research ethics, integrity and misconduct. We know that research misconduct and questionable research practices occur in our current scientific processes, and it is likely that similar or new forms of misconduct and questionable practices will emerge in OS. It is therefore important to identify and analyse the potential for misconduct in various areas of OS practice and in different scientific disciplines, and to identify and analyse current ethical, social and legal approaches to responding to questionable practices. It is only based on such an analysis that the European science system can effectively ensure that ethics and research integrity (ERI) becomes a structural component of Open Science.

ROSiE will provide this analysis and develop practical tools aimed at ensuring ERI in OS and citizen science (CS). This will be done by a strongly multi-disciplinary project group consisting of world-leading experts and organizations in OS, CS, and ERI.

The overall aim of the Horizon 2020 project PRO-RES was to develop a framework for research ethics and research integrity that is created in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, acceptable to those who use it, and aligned with the principles set out in the Oviedo Convention and the Declaration of Helsinki.

PRO-RES builds on existing statements of principles endorsed by the European Union and other national and international organisations. While the project draws on existing formulations, the resulting framework is designed to be both durable and sufficiently flexible to respond to future needs and challenges.

The framework follows a multi-layered structure. It begins with a simple introductory level of core principles, progresses to levels providing greater context and explanation, and culminates in more advanced decision-making tools. This approach ensures that users are not discouraged by the perceived complexity of research ethics and integrity requirements at the outset, while still providing a comprehensive exploration of the principles and their underlying rationale.

Duration: 2018–2020

Coordinator: European Science Foundation

University of Tartu participants: In addition to the Centre for Ethics, University of Tartu, the project also involved Professor Dietmar Pfahl from the Institute of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Tartu.

Project budget (University of Tartu): EUR 162,250

The results of the Horizon 2020 project PRINTEGER were selected as one of the success stories by SiS.net (the Network of National Contact Points for Science with and for Society in Horizon 2020). Professor Margit Sutrop is one of the authors of an article presenting the project's final conclusions.

The Centre for Ethics at the University of Tartu led the analytical work package, which examined the concept of research integrity through a multidisciplinary lens and conducted a normative analysis of its foundations. The work package focused on conceptual clarification, legal and criminological analysis, and explored the extent to which research integrity is an organisational responsibility. In addition, the team analysed cases of research misconduct in Estonia, conducted focus groups, and developed recommendations for policymakers.

Duration: September 2015 – August 2018

Leading partner: Stichting Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Total budget (University of Tartu): EUR 166,250

Forsberg, E.-M., Anthun, F. O., Bailey, S., Birchley, G., Bout, H., Casonato, C., González Fuster, G., Heinrichs, B., Horbach, S., Skjæggestad Jacobsen, I., Janssen, J., Kaiser, M., Lerouge, I., van der Meulen, B., de Rijcke, S., Saretzki, T., Sutrop, M., Tazewell, M., Varantola, K., Vie, K. J. ... Zöller, M. (2018). Working with research integrity - guidance for research performing organisations: The Bonn PRINTEGER Statement. Science and Engineering Ethics, 1−12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-018-0034-4.